“Marian Heretic”: The New Female-Led Horror Series About a Blasphemous Ass-Kicking Nun [Interview]
Interview with writer Tini Howard!
This Halloween season a new female-led horror series hits comic shops on October 8th. Seeped in blasphemy, Marian Heretic combines action and horror seamlessly while keeping you on the edge of your seat as you are dropped into a world full of gruesome witches and horrific monsters. The new series previewed in issue #14 of Hello Darkness and is perfect for fans of Warrior Nun and Castlevania: Nocturne.
Sister Marian is a witch hunter of the highest order, a Mother Superior, and a heretic guided by a Goddess the Church refuses to acknowledge. When the Holy Father brands her order blasphemers, Marian strikes a dark bargain to become their personal enforcer.
As she delivers murderous judgement night after night in the city of Vespers, she can feel her soul fracture…but what else can she do with the lives of her sisters at stake?
Marian Heretic is written by Tini Howard (Catwoman), with art by Joe Jaro (Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer), colors by Walter Baiamonte (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), letters by Jim Campbell (Lilith, Specs), and is published by BOOM! Studios, one of the leading publishers in horror comics today.
This series should be high on your TBR this fall. Marian Heretic is an insanely exciting feminist tale that hooks you in the first few pages. You will immediately be infatuated with Sister Marian and her harrowing story of religious rebellion and her quest for personal autonomy. If you want a series about a bad-ass woman fighting monsters and the patriarchy—this one’s for you!
Ahead of the series release we got to chat with the writer of the series Tini Howard—who had a lot of incredible things to say about the creative process and what to look forward to when reading Marian Heretic. Tini also shared a Marian Heretic inspired playlist with us here at The DeMonster!
What is Marian Heretic, what is your Elevator Pitch?
Easy! Sister Marian is the Mother Superior of a heretical order of nuns. To protect her gentle sisters from the cruel and domineering Holy Father Church, Marian serves the Church as its most deadly witch hunter. (As a woman, she's the only one who can get close enough to their ranks to do serious damage.)
One night, the witches approach Marian with an offer she can't refuse, and that's where our story begins.
What are some of the major themes explored in Marian Heretic? What genres does it fall under?
I think religious horror and nunsploitation are easy go-tos, there's lots here for fans of things like The Devils and the Magdalena comics. We've also leaned into the tone of goth favorites like Castlevania - something about Joe's art really evokes that gorgeous series to me.
But if you're willing to digest the book a little, there's definitely more to it. I grew from a Catholic girl into a spiritually scorned woman, and from there into something else, a more confident kind of elder, and that's the transformation Marian is going through. She is a woman who feels called to a vocation that doesn't have a clear path, and for whom 'success' is highly personal—it's essentially, between her and God.
One of my favorite things about modern horror is how those of us who were raised on the whole horror canon can now make work that marries the things we love about vintage horror with our sort of higher-minded selves who want to get philosophical and meaningful with our stories. There are two wolves inside you, as they say. I like feeding them both.
What inspired Marian Heretic? How did the series come to be?
This series is the truest expression of me making the book that was missing on the shelves for me. I wanted a book about nuns and no one was doing it. I was also going through a period of mourning a loved one that redefined a lot of my relationship with the Catholicism of my youth. Again—a perfect moment where the low-brow thing I wanted visually (hot nun fight in a comic) happened to sync up with where I was personally as a writer (mourning a very devoutly Catholic loved one.)
What has it been like working with the creative team Joe Jaro, Walter Baiamonte, and Jim Campbell?
Joe and I got together in the best way you can in comics - an introduction from a friend. Joe was the artist on Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer, an incredible comic written by my bestie Casey Gilly. (You gotta read her upcoming Sleepy Hollow comic, by the way, it's nuts.) Anyway, Casey read the treatment for Marian and said Joe would be great, and I sent the treatment to him. I wanted to honestly gauge his interest, because like...it takes a certain kind of person to work on a book like this. Additionally, the book walks a line between respecting women while really liking to look at them, and I needed an artist who was going to understand that.
Joe sent back a design for Marian that was, more or less, perfect. We altered like two elements, but that was her, and her it has remained.
Walter is a king, it's my first time working with him and I really enjoy it. Once or twice I've had to come back timidly requesting a complete tone shift on a scene, and he always understands and delivers 110% percent. He's just an amazing colorist, and he understands the tones in this book so, so well.
As for Jim, I immediately rejoiced upon hearing his name. He's lettered some of my other spooky works (like Vampire: The Masquerade) so I knew he'd nail it. And he has!
What are some of the differences and similarities between writing IPs like Catwoman and Excalibur versus writing creator-owned titles like Marian Heretic? How does the creative process differ?
I'll tell you this truth - after years of doing that, it takes some real time to find your own way again. There's no canon of the character to learn and adhere to. You have to define the character and what makes them different all on your own, and you have to trust yourself. All hard stuff, but very rewarding in a way that working on other people's characters can't quite achieve.
Without any spoilers, what can you tease ahead of the series release? What are you most excited for people to see?
People have already fallen in love with Marian's design, I'm really excited for them to see her at work, and get to know her. And I'm excited for people to meet Ravenna, who is extremely hot and dangerous.
And finally, if there were to be a “reading/watch playlist” for Marian Heretic, what other titles (comics, books, movies, shows, ect) would accompany Marian Heretic on the list?
Oh hell yeah, great question.
For the vibes, I'd be watching The Devils and Benedetta, both of which I think are on the Criterion Channel right now? Turns out they're doing a full nunsploitation month, which is fun and timely. Again, Castlevania: Nocturne on Netflix is incredible, you can skip the first Castlevania show entirely and just do Nocturne, it's so much better. I can always recommend a Bayonetta replay—she's not really a nun, but she's a gothic icon.
For tunes there's a Marian playlist you can listen to here! Everything from Mitski to System of a Down. The big unexpected feature for me has been A Perfect Circle's first album, Mer de Noms. It's all over this soundtrack and I've been listening to it nonstop while writing. Which isn't really surprising - not only is it thematically relevant, it's personally relevant. That album was so important to me as an angry young goth girl, and I'm definitely feeding her again now. 💪❣️
Follow Tini Howard on socials at @TiniHoward and check out her publication The Scorpian Room to stay up to date with her latest projects. You can check out the sneak peak of “Marian Heretic” in this week’s issue of Hello Darkness (issue #14), if you haven’t already. The first issue debuts October 8th!
Wow! This looks so good!
Great interview! I'm so excited to read this comic. Looks so sick.